Category: Food Expenditures

Touch the Soil News #497 The USDA reports that dollars spent eating out are almost the same as dollars spent for groceries to eat at home. The facts are that what is spent eating out is growing much more rapidly than the population. For example, Americans spent $42.8 billion eating out in 1970 and a whopping $782.7 billion to be spent eating out in 2016 – a 17 fold increase. From 1970 to today, the population grew by 79 percent. Dollars spent eating out have grown dramatically. The restaurant industry employs 14.4 million people – roughly 10 percent of the American work force. The National Restaurant Association reports that there…